BNP 'could take control of police'

The British National Party will capture senior roles on police authorities if plans to introduce direct elections go ahead, ministers have been warned.

Senior Labour figures in local government are convinced that the far-right party will gain a foothold on police authorities if the changes are brought in.

Their fears emerged as Communities Secretary Hazel Blears called for a new drive against the BNP in the week that a list of 12,000 names and addresses of the party's membership was posted on the internet, casting a new light on the make-up of BNP supporters.

Sir Jeremy Beecham, Labour group leader at the Local Government Association, said that police authority elections would play into the hands of the nationalist party.

"Hazel is absolutely right that mainstream parties must redouble their efforts on grassroots action to block the rise of the BNP," he said. "However, by pushing ahead with direct elections for policing, an area extremists would love to gain control of, the government is leaving the door wide open to the BNP."

Sir Jeremy, also a member of Labour's ruling National Executive Committee, added that the proposals risked handing the BNP the opportunity to "govern the entire police system".

"The ongoing failure of the Home Office to consider the consequences of this policy will, I have no doubt, result in crime-fighting activity reducing in many areas, and in some places, we will see the BNP and other extreme voices taking control of the police," he said.

Writing in The Guardian, Ms Blears said: "We must recognise that where the BNP wins votes, it is often a result of local political failure. Estates that have been ignored for decades; voters taken for granted; local services that have failed; white working-class voters who feel politicians live on a different planet.

"In such a political vacuum, the BNP steps in with offers of grass-cutting, a listening ear and easy answers to complex problems."

Attacking BNP leader Nick Griffin's "cunning strategy", Ms Blears accused the party of playing on people's "apprehensions" and peddling "pernicious but plausible lies".